Mediwatch is a small company destined to become a much bigger fish by the time this year is out. Mediwatch are already a market leader in urological medical diagnostics equipement and are currently exporting their products throughout the UK, Canada, Europe, India and Japan. That doesn't leave much of the globe left for them to capture - until you remember the good ol' US and China. These are the two massive markets which are destined to be added to MDW's export client portfolio by the end of 2005.

Website: www.mediwatch.com

The company is currently heavily undervalued. This is probably because Mediwatch's speciality is not a very glamourous business to be in as their equipment is used extensively to diagnose prostate cancer in men and other nasty urological conditions affecting both men and women. However, don't let that put you off investing in these guys. This is big business and is growing at an exponential rate as more and more people globally become health-aware as they get older. Mediwatch normally supply their products through to global markets via distribution agreements. They already have the best of distribution partners in the well known US medical distributor CR Bard who supply Canada and Europe and GE Medical who supply Japan. The UK business is handled by Mediwatch's own dedicated sales team. US FDA approval was gained for MDW's products at the start of last year, however a whole year of US legal wrangling meant that they were unable to seek a suitable partner for the crucial distribution agreement until the start of this year. This distribution agreement is expected by the board to have a "significant effect" on the share price so they are reluctant to give any clues as to when it will be signed, sealed and delivered. The general consensus is that this US distribution agreement will be announced in July/August. In China and Hong Kong, MDW have done things the other way round. They have set up distribution agreements with major Asian medical equipment distributors and have stock already out there waiting to sell into the markets - all they are waiting for is SDA approval (which is a "rubber stamp") from the Chinese authorities - this can take anything up to 12 months to come through and MDW applied during Autumn 2004 - so even more good news coming soon this year. Epidemiological data from British Association of Urology conference last year: On average 30-45% of all men between the age of 50 and 70 have at least one PSA test per year in the US / Italy / Australia. If that's not enough to convince you to invest a few hard earned coppers in MDW, they are also developing a PSA stick test product (PSAWatch) which is revolutionary and causing some excitement in medical circles. This product can also be adapted (at very low cost) for a whole spectrum of medical disciplines from Cardiology to Veterinary Practice! This product is likely to be released in the next few weeks. Philip Stimpson the CEO has said that this product is going to be their "gold mine" - I'm sure it will prove to be ours too.

Just been looking around and the 'Point of Care/Near Patient Testing' is becoming huge!

I have obviously known about this new direction that world health services are entering but I hadn't realised the speed that countries are taking it up.

I've had a lapse in my own research of some 6 months but started again a few months ago.....I've missed a lot!


The fact that countries in these modern times are having to cut dramatically the waiting times on all aspects of patient care is as I see it,the major key here.The current infrastructures cannot cope with any more through put to meet these new directives due to the extra cost and the hospitals being too small to cope with the ever increasing population.

Regarding MDW and the role they will play in 'Point of Care/Near Patient Testing'is as follows:

1. MDW have a complete Urology suit that can be used in a small practice situation at a fraction of the cost that a similar system in a major hospital would have cost say 10 years ago.This is all due to new systems being now both accurate and cheap due to changes in technology.

2. MDW systems are bluetoothed to enable results to be correlated to a central database which could then be sent to the local major hospital when patients require a more in-depth examination.The major hospitals will now have more time to look into a patients problems as the main preliminary testing has already been done via MDW's products at a local level!

3. MDW have their USA based sales & marketing operation up and running this month,which was all part of the Medtronic agreement that took so long to sign and imo effected the SP during this time (about 18 months) but I see why now and worth the wait!

4. We already distribute throughout the EU,China and Hong Kong but I invisage a much harder drive into these markets this year,now that we have a complete Urology system to offer.

5. This was a big bonus:

"International Distribution Agreement with T-DOC

On 22 January, 2007, we announced that we had entered into a distribution
agreement with US based T-DOC. Under the agreement which covers USA, Canada and
the EU, Mediwatch will be distributing the T-DOC range of disposable,
pressure-sensing, air charged catheters. These pressure sensing catheters are
key to performing diagnostic procedures with the new range of urodynamic
equipment recently from Medtronic Inc. and this relationship is a significant
step forward for our new urodynamics business.

Considerable, recurring sales of these disposable catheters in excess of US$3.0
million per annum have already been established by Medtronic over the last three years.Looking ahead, we believe that the distribution of disposable catheters will provide Mediwatch with a recurring income stream from within an established market,whilst also strengthening our urodynamics business."

6. and from the Results:

Outlook

Awareness of urological disorders and patient-specific disease management is
increasing with on-going advances in the quality and specificity of diagnostic
testing. Mediwatch is striving to develop and market faster, simpler, and less
invasive diagnostic products to save lives and restore quality of life for
people with urological conditions.

The Directors consider there is considerable optimism for 2007 and beyond and,
as we stated in our December trading update, the new financial year (ending 31
October 2007) has started in-line with management expectations and budgets.

The challenge now is to ensure that we have the resource and capability to match the anticipated demand for the enlarged product range and to this end, we have reviewed resources and made the necessary changes to support our growth.

We have already commenced establishing independent relationships with
Medtronic's worldwide distribution network and as part of this process we
co-hosted an international dealer conference to introduce the established
Medtronic distributors to the new and extended range of Mediwatch equipment. I
am pleased to report that we have had very positive feedback to date.

The Directors expect that there will continue to be an improving trading
performance in the current year following the acquisition of the Medtronic
Urodynamics business, the establishment of the US sales, service and marketing
operation coupled with the on-going development programme and marketing of new
products.

Overall, the Group is in an excellent position to exploit and benefit from the
opportunities it has already identified and we will keep shareholders updated of our progress as appropriate.

7. PSAwatch although still very important to MDW is not the only banja string in the pack,as can be seen from the above!What it is though is a one of a kind very accurate test for PSA levels (with other tests nearly complete or in various stages of completion)which can be combined with a whole suit of other MDW Urology products for cross referencing purposes and data gathering..... A 10 minute wait time from test to result instead of a week or more at a fraction of the cost!

I have finished now-lol

Have we got the 'Point of Care/Near Patient Testing' Urology world market sewn up?

I think we have!


http://www.elemental-healthcare.co.uk/portascan.html

http://www.elemental-healthcare.co.uk/portaflow.html

http://www.elemental-healthcare.co.uk/multiscan.html

http://www.elemental-healthcare.co.uk/images/G3.pdf

http://www.elemental-healthcare.co.uk/images/U.pdf

http://www.elemental-healthcare.co.uk/images/G2.pdf

and PSAwatch when it's updated like the above.

I think we have to give them a bit of time (pretend you have just bought in and not grown a 6' beard while waiting).

If we take the EU as this is the area we have a complete suit now,with CE approval for PSAwatch now granted.

We have Elemental Healthcare Ltd distributing all our products in the UK:

"With the increasing pressure on the NHS to move diagnostic services away from the acute settings, PCTs are having look for innovative solutions to fulfil these services at the point of care.

Diagnostic urology and uro-gynaecology have been identified by the NHS as a priority service to move to the point of care setting. Until now the level and complexity of the diagnostic tools has been expensive in both cost and skill base requirements.

Today, Elemental Healthcare Ltd, can now offer the UKs most effective one stop solution for diagnostic urology through the Mediwatch urological assessment system.

Key to the system is the Multiscan which offers real time imaging of the bladder, kidney and prostate. Portable, easy to use the Multiscan will manage data from all the other components of the system via blue tooth technology thereby enabling complete assessment reports at your figure tips.

PSAwatch provides a fast effective solution for the management of of new & recurrent prostate disease with accuracy of 98% (Check Figure). Ease of use combined with state of the art assessment analysis allows the user clear result with 10 minutes. Linked to the Multiscan by blue tooth the PSA result an be used with the the measured prostate volume to calculate the PSA density.

Uroflow Systems offers an integrated solution for the assessment of urinary flow and is easily adapted for both male and female patients. The assessment result can be reviewed separately or as a combined assessment report via the Multiscan system."

http://www.elemental-healthcare.co.uk/clinical_solutions_diagnos.html

There was also these articles:

http://urologycentrelondon.co.uk/news_prostateseminar.html

http://urologycentrelondon.co.uk/news_psadevelopments.html

http://www.ontargetmag.com/article.aspx?issueID=86&articleID=529

We also have the new German distributors (Promedia) who I'm sure will supply the whole MDW range as per Elemental and I would expect further distribution deals to be announced throughout this year,in Europe.

I'm sure,as has been stated by MDW that the Florida USA branch is doing better than expected and this will continue to improve as the year pans out and PSAwatch nears FDA approval.

I can't fault what they have achieved so far and we also have this to look forward to:

"The Company intends to launch PSAwatchTM and the Bioscan reader system at the
forthcoming European Association of Urologists ('EAU') Meeting in Berlin on 21
-24 March 2007 with sales of the PSAwatchTM system into the European market
expected to commence in the second calendar quarter of 2007."

and a bit later:

AUA - May 19-24 Anaheim - Stand 2816
This will be the first AUA where Mediwatch USA has exhibited independently -
an opportunity all our sales managers are eagerly looking forward to.

There is also the Medilink Network which Mediwatch belong to,I have sent them an email asking them to update the Mediwatch page as it's a bit out of date.
Overall though they make a good platform for Mediwatch to use.

http://www.medilink.co.uk/national.html

This might bring a bit of revenue in:


"45 Million Boost for West Midialnds Health Trusts

Midlands Health trusts will recieve a 45 million booast for next year, 22 million being handed over to primary care trusts.

This is all part of the plan to bring facilities closer to the patient and to cut patient witing times; this will mean the purchase of new equipment and acquiring new buildings. The local NHS will distribute this money according to local needs, and will see local hospitals recieveing around 10.5 million extra next year."



Source: Birmingham Post (08-02-2007)


http://www.medilinkwm.co.uk/news/display.php?id=284



The above is a very good example of the direction medical testing as in 'Point of Care/Near Patient Testing'is heading and not just in the UK but world wide!

This was observed and remarked upon over on the dark side:

When you type this link in:

http://www.medtronicurodynamics.com/

Which is a great piece of publicity as the link is posted on various medical sites to find out further information on what was once their products but now MDW's

It has been commented on,that the MDW web site requires updating and after I emailed the company they replied with along the lines of 'they are in the process of redeveloping all of their PR functions including the web site.'

All looks good to me.....

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh I say,this is very nice :-) :-)

http://www.elemental-healthcare.co.uk/bioscan.html

http://www.elemental-healthcare.co.uk/images/Bioscan_Elemental.pdf

News article in the METRO today about MDW 10 min cancer test.
:-)

Nice one Dave.
Also the fact the Metro belongs to a wider group of newspapers might bring more exposure this week:

"Associated Newspapers Ltd

Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) is the management company for five major newspapers - Daily Mail,The Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard, London Metro, Irish Mail on Sunday and the advertising publication Loot."

http://www.associatednewspapers.co.uk/


http://www.ukmetro.co.uk/

Metro

"Every weekday morning 1004607 copies
are distributed across the UK. "

Well this has perked up a little, Director buys' as well, lot's to look forward to as well

8o)

Next week will see the official launch of PSAwatch which ties in well with the National Prostate Awareness week.

As can be seen by the thread title MDW do take longer than shareholders would like but they do get there and they do it right! Which is the main issue when going long on a company intentionally or otherwise :-)

A voice in the night :)

or a night of voices :-)

Morning choc

The point is that PSAwatch was the main part of MDW but now we have a complete Urology diagnostic system that has the added bonus of PSAwatch (CE approval now gained with FDA in Summer of this year).

No more false hopes,we are here now and that is all that matters!


PS Not sure what OBV is exactly but it looks good,I think-lol

Still recovering from the Boro defeat,we were robbed!

Anyway,what about this as a way forward (think the link may have been posted before)

"Boots offer osteoporosis test in stores
Trial service may be rolled out across UK"

http://www.which.co.uk/reports_and_campaigns/health_and_wellbeing/reports/treatments_and_remedies/Boots_osteoporosis_trial_news_article_557_110643.jsp

I realise that a PSA test requires a specialist to go through the results as in any cancer to explain to the patient in detail what the results actually mean and this is especially true in the case of the PSA test for a first timer,so to speak.

What I am trying to lead into is and using Boots as an example:

1. A person who has had a PSA test through their GP and the result has signaled possible concern,the GP/specialist could then,if a prescription was required for the test or otherwise,have the patient go to their local Boots store and have their PSA test taken there at more frequent intervals to build up a chart which would highlight any sudden changes.The record could be kept by the patient and also automatically sent to their GP!

2. After what I have previously said then I don't know if this could happen but if the Boots nurse had qualifications to relay results or at least point the person to their GP for an understanding of the PSA test or verify the persons GP and automatically send the result to the GP and the persons records updated.....

3. The cost of getting to your GP for the test and then parking and then a week later a visit to the hospital and parking to go through the results does appear to point to PSAwatch to resolve both time and cost! Whether with Boots or your GP.

4. If you are at a high risk and/or require PSA testing at regular intervals the above points are most relevant as you would know the theory and could visit your GP if a rise of PSA levels occurred over time-imo.

The above points are all about POCT and the savings that can be made by making once complicated and drawn out testing to Point Of Care and not burdening the NHS or other.

This is one of the major killers of men and anything that makes testing easier to build up a chart has to be welcomed,also imo.

Hope that made sense?

Edit-Even if it meant paying Boots 10 once a year for a test then I'm sure most men would be happy to go along and build up their own record...just a thought.

PSAwatch is a very attractive bonus to Mediwatch's Urology suite but by no means the main unit.For one thing the Bioscan (previously been posted)reads the PSA value and is designed to read any number of future tests!
It is fitting that we concentrate on PSAwatch at the moment for obvious reasons ie Prostate Awareness week and the official launch later in this week.

I also think (Ed-Here we go!)that our government along with others around the world are being taken to task over Prostate Cancer and what are you doing about it!
I do think there will be some sort of UK Gov.cash incentive to acquire PSAwatch at a more local level.It wouldn't cost that much and would put any Gov.in a good light as to be doing something,only my opinion mind.


That's the end of me ramblings-lol

closed out s/b short for a few points on the plus side....boring

Are you going long now treble?

BTW do you have to pay any premium on your SBs?